Clinton: New GOP Makes Bush Look Liberal

MINNEAPOLIS – Former President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that the Republican Party is embracing "ideology over evidence" and pushing out pragmatic voices that would make even his White House successor seem like a liberal.

Clinton, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis, said there was no mistaking that Republicans have tacked hard right and questioned whether former President George W. Bush would fit in among the party's candidates this year.

"A lot of their candidates today, they make him look like a liberal," Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd at a downtown hotel as he campaigned for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton.

Clinton pointed to the tea party movement's influence on the GOP.

"The Boston Tea Party was protesting abuse of power. This is now trading public power for the abuse of private power," Clinton said, just as a tea party-backed candidate was declared the winner Tuesday night in Delaware's hotly contested Republican primary for U.S. Senate

The former president was in Minnesota to support Dayton, the Democratic nominee for Minnesota governor. Organizers of the event sought campaign donations of between $100 and $1,000.

MINNEAPOLIS Former President Bill Clintonsaid Tuesday that the Republican Party is embracing ideology over evidence and pushing out pragmatic voices that would make even his White House successor seem like a liberal.
Clinton, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in...